WO 2005/016061 discloses a cleaning device for cleaning a shaving head of a shaver. The known cleaning device comprises a station housing, a holding device, a cleaning fluid container, a fluid impelling assembly for pumping a cleaning fluid, a supply conduit leading to a cleaning well having a drain above a wall, a fluid discharge port as well as a filter element.
The cleaning well has an inner curvature shaped to conform approximately to an outer contour of the shaving head. During a cleaning cycle, the level of cleaning fluid in the cleaning well must always be such as to encompass a major part of the shaving head to accomplish a good cleaning operation.
The cleaning device known from WO 2005/016061 has a major drawback, which resides in the fact that this device needs to have a fluid impelling assembly for pumping the cleaning fluid. In particular, the fluid impelling assembly comprises an electric motor, which is housed in an interior space of the cleaning fluid container and designed to slide out of this interior space, so that it is possible for the cleaning fluid container to be removed from the cleaning device and replaced by another one. It is understood that the fluid impelling assembly of the design as described contributes significantly to the cost price of the cleaning device.
WO 2005/000539 discloses a method of cleaning a hair chamber of a shaver, wherein it is not necessary to apply a separate assembly for pumping the cleaning fluid. According to the method, cleaning fluid is displaced through the hair chamber by at least one liquid displacement impeller driven by a motorized drive structure of the shaver. Consequently, there is no need for the application of a separate fluid-impelling assembly.
During a cleaning process, the impellers are driven, as a result of which cleaning fluid is agitated inside the hair chamber, causing the fluid to whirl and/or splash against internal surfaces inside the hair chamber, thereby entraining hair and skin particles from these surfaces in the hair chamber. In a practical embodiment, the shaver comprises only one motor, wherein both the drive structure for driving the impellers and the cutter members are coupled to this motor.
For feeding fluid into the hair chamber, the hair chamber communicates with the environment through at least two flushing passages, one of the passages serving for letting the fluid into the hair chamber, and another of the passages serving for letting the fluid out of the hair chamber. The cleaning fluid may be water, which is supplied to the hair chamber by simply holding a portion of the shaver containing the inlet of the flushing passage in a flow of water running from a tap or in water in for instance a bowl or glass. It is preferred to supply cleaning agents, for example in concentrated form, prior to the water supply or dissolved in water that is supplied through the inlet of the flushing passage.